Collaborate with others to create a presentation

What if you and four classmates had two days to put together a stunning presentation? PowerPoint can help you collaborate more easily with others and get your presentation done in record time. The following example shows you how to divide the presentation into sections so that each team member can focus on their own content. Then everyone can contribute content and review changes from others, all at once.

Important: You can simultaneously edit presentations in the .pptx or .ppsx file format that are located on Windows Live OneDrive or a server that has Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 installed. To work with SharePoint in Office for Mac, you have to have Microsoft Office for Mac Home and Business 2011, Microsoft Office for Mac Academic 2011, or Microsoft Office for Mac Standard 2011.

Day 1: Outline, divide, and assign

When you create a presentation with a group of people, often each person takes a specific concept, angle, or subject area and contributes the slides for that area. To get started, brainstorm a basic outline for your presentation. Sketch this outline on the slides, create sections, and associate each section with a part or parts of the outline, and then assign these sections to each team member. Once you have the outline, upload the presentation to a server so that everyone can access the file and contribute content for their areas.

To start a new presentation, do one of the following:

To start a new presentation

Do this

That is blank

On the File menu, click New Presentation.

That has a unique theme

On the Standard toolbar, click New from template
.

In the PowerPoint Presentation Gallery, under Themes, click All, and then click the theme that you want to use for the new presentation.

From a pre-defined template

On the Standard toolbar, click New from template
.

In the PowerPoint Presentation Gallery, under Templates, click All, and then click the template that you want to use for the new presentation.

To add a slide, on the Home tab, under Slides, click New Slide.

To choose a specific layout for the slide - such as a layout that includes placeholders for pictures or other types of content - click the arrow next to New Slide, and then click the layout that you want.

To add a title, click the title placeholder on the slide, and then type the title that you want.

Note: To include additional information about what content should go on the slide, you can type it into the content placeholder on the slide, or in the notes pane.

Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you have completed your initial slide outline.

Once you have a basic outline for your presentation, you can divide the slides into sections and assign ownership. For more information about grouping slides with sections, see Organize your slides into sections.

Once you have saved the presentation, copy the link (or URL) of the file location on the server, and send it to everyone in e-mail or an instant message. Then you and your classmates can get to work adding content to the slides.

Day 2: Add content and finalize your presentation

One of the biggest time-savers when collaborating on a presentation is being able to edit the file at the same time, instead of having to coordinate times when each member of the team works on the file independently. With your presentation saved to a server, you and your classmates can do just that. Each time someone saves their changes to the server, the other authors are notified that updates are available.

With the presentation open on your computer, you can see who else is editing the presentation, who is editing a specific slide, and when updates from other authors are available on the server. For more information about editing a presentation at the same time, see Simultaneously edit a presentation with other authors.

If you want to discuss a change or talk with the other authors as you edit the file, you can send each other instant messages, or start a video or audio call. To send a communication to someone, on the bottom bar of the window, click the numbered icon
, click a name in the list, and then click a communication method - for example, send an instant message.